I come up with brilliant plans to drive the blues away... Be it, freaking horrible day in office.. or u just learnt, your latest crush already has a girlfriend...
These have definitely worked for me..
1. Shopping: This most definitely works.. Greater the depression.. More the bill.. I spend mostly on clothes.. then on gadgets.. I think its the excitement of trying something new..
2. Chocolate ice cream: I believe, there is now, scientific evidence that, chocolates have a lot of anti-depressants. Crap I don't need a research organization to tell me that. I knew it, from the day I was born. There is something to it..
3. Movies (in theatre, even better): You get so involved in the movie.. you tend to forget the rest.
4. Drag a friend out for dinner..
5. Blasting music out of the speakers in your room..
6. Office/open source work also helps big way..
7. Last but not the least.. Empty beach.. Thank god I live in Chennai..
Nothing else works..
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Back to Chennai
It is almost a year and half, since,I left Chennai. When I came to Bangalore , I had hope. I had a dream. I had the conviction, that I can get things done. Last few days have been little hard and I seem to have lost my ground. Hopefully, Chennai would help me see through this phase...
Saturday, February 23, 2008
My trip to US of A (Part 3 Concluding)
If you had read my previous posting, you might be wondering, did this girl ever made it through.. Well, the fact that I am writing this blog is a sign that I am doing fine.
There were some red pills that I had to swallow in the middle of my trip.. It completely shook me and now I am staggering back.. I forced myself to think away from my career and enjoy what was offered.. The fall out, I roamed about the city, mostly on my own. It is so much fun to walk into stores like Nordstorm, Macys.. trying to familiarize with the brands.. recalibrate and try to estimate what is expensive and what is not. There is a kick in walking around the city, with a map, at 8.0 PM, temperature 0 - 5 degree celsius. When you have someone to show you around the place, you miss minute details like, do I turn this left or the next. You are forced to read directions from map.. Your understanding of the layout improves.... Maybe the loner in me, jus unleashed herself.. Watever..
The journey back was even more interesting. I was booked on British Airways (Seattle - Heathrow - Bangalore). As luck would have it, there was a problem with luggage scanning machine in terminal 4 of Heathrow and BA pilot strike. Little did I know the madness had just started.
Seattle - Heathrow (BA around 10 hours journey)
Heathrow (9 hours stop over)
Heathrow - Bombay (Jet air 10 hours )
Bombay (2 hours stop over)
Bombay - Bangalore (Jet air 1 hour)
Bangalore (3 hours stop over)
Bangalore - Chennai (Paramount 1 hour)
That totals up to 36 hours of travel straight. Almost 2 dayz.. no shower .. unbrushed teeth.. at the end of the trip I felt like a pig.
Since this was my first trip, I am not complaining (atleast not as much as I should be). The trip till Heathrow was uneventful. I landed in Heathrow around 12 noon terminal 4, and were to board a flight from terminal 3 at 9.10 PM. Only when one takes the shuttle from one terminal to another, does one realize how big the airport is. In terminal 3, airport passenger screen is so detailed. It is kind of embarssing when you are asked to remove your belt, when there are twenty men behind you in a queue. Not that they care. Its just odd. But if this is going to save me from terrorists, so be it.
With nine hours in hand, I hit the duty free shops early. For the first time, I was wondering around a full fledged liquor shop. This seemed so cool. I was looking at brands and associate the percentage alcohol content(hopefully I should be able to make a better decision ;)). I finally decided on two bottles of Chivas regal 15 .. a cool offer buy 2 for 30 pounds. I picked up the two bottles carefully and laid them on the counter. I was asked to produce my boarding pass. The women in counter shook her head and said, I should not be buying them. She went on to explain, I was not going straight into Bangalore and liquor was not allowed as hand luggage in Bombay-Bangalore flight. My heart sank as I gave up my carefully picked up bottles at the counter. Crap!! Dejected I walked out. (Later, in Bombay, I saw people shoving bottles into their check-in luggages)
As I was strolling around the shops, I saw an Indian woman, who was travelling with me from Seattle, and looked like she was going to Bangalore as well. We had a round of self introductions. She was carrying a 2 months old baby and was struggling to cope up, with the journey. For some reason, I began to admire her from the very begining. We went around the shops, got more chocolates and had a quick lunch. Then she said, she worked for Microsoft... I was zapped.. I am so into Linux, that when someone say they work/worked for Microsoft, I react strangely. I have cursed Windows so many times, for so many reasons. Offlate I seem to talk to a lot more people associated with Microsoft.. So many sane people, who work for Microsoft. Surprising ;) ... probably the pay..;). Just kidding. We boarded the plane, came to Bombay, breezed through customs, got our baggage back, checked it in again, boarded a shuttle to domestic airpot and finally boarded the flight to bangalore.We said our good byes and parted, admiring her courage yet again, for taking the tedious journey.
Once in Bangalore, I decided I needed to be home. A friend helped me book a flight to Chennai waited for another 3 hours and finally reached Chennai. Phew.. That was one helluva experience.. I have no regrets what so ever for taking this journey. The Seattle city made it worthwhile.. Amen..
There were some red pills that I had to swallow in the middle of my trip.. It completely shook me and now I am staggering back.. I forced myself to think away from my career and enjoy what was offered.. The fall out, I roamed about the city, mostly on my own. It is so much fun to walk into stores like Nordstorm, Macys.. trying to familiarize with the brands.. recalibrate and try to estimate what is expensive and what is not. There is a kick in walking around the city, with a map, at 8.0 PM, temperature 0 - 5 degree celsius. When you have someone to show you around the place, you miss minute details like, do I turn this left or the next. You are forced to read directions from map.. Your understanding of the layout improves.... Maybe the loner in me, jus unleashed herself.. Watever..
The journey back was even more interesting. I was booked on British Airways (Seattle - Heathrow - Bangalore). As luck would have it, there was a problem with luggage scanning machine in terminal 4 of Heathrow and BA pilot strike. Little did I know the madness had just started.
Seattle - Heathrow (BA around 10 hours journey)
Heathrow (9 hours stop over)
Heathrow - Bombay (Jet air 10 hours )
Bombay (2 hours stop over)
Bombay - Bangalore (Jet air 1 hour)
Bangalore (3 hours stop over)
Bangalore - Chennai (Paramount 1 hour)
That totals up to 36 hours of travel straight. Almost 2 dayz.. no shower .. unbrushed teeth.. at the end of the trip I felt like a pig.
Since this was my first trip, I am not complaining (atleast not as much as I should be). The trip till Heathrow was uneventful. I landed in Heathrow around 12 noon terminal 4, and were to board a flight from terminal 3 at 9.10 PM. Only when one takes the shuttle from one terminal to another, does one realize how big the airport is. In terminal 3, airport passenger screen is so detailed. It is kind of embarssing when you are asked to remove your belt, when there are twenty men behind you in a queue. Not that they care. Its just odd. But if this is going to save me from terrorists, so be it.
With nine hours in hand, I hit the duty free shops early. For the first time, I was wondering around a full fledged liquor shop. This seemed so cool. I was looking at brands and associate the percentage alcohol content(hopefully I should be able to make a better decision ;)). I finally decided on two bottles of Chivas regal 15 .. a cool offer buy 2 for 30 pounds. I picked up the two bottles carefully and laid them on the counter. I was asked to produce my boarding pass. The women in counter shook her head and said, I should not be buying them. She went on to explain, I was not going straight into Bangalore and liquor was not allowed as hand luggage in Bombay-Bangalore flight. My heart sank as I gave up my carefully picked up bottles at the counter. Crap!! Dejected I walked out. (Later, in Bombay, I saw people shoving bottles into their check-in luggages)
As I was strolling around the shops, I saw an Indian woman, who was travelling with me from Seattle, and looked like she was going to Bangalore as well. We had a round of self introductions. She was carrying a 2 months old baby and was struggling to cope up, with the journey. For some reason, I began to admire her from the very begining. We went around the shops, got more chocolates and had a quick lunch. Then she said, she worked for Microsoft... I was zapped.. I am so into Linux, that when someone say they work/worked for Microsoft, I react strangely. I have cursed Windows so many times, for so many reasons. Offlate I seem to talk to a lot more people associated with Microsoft.. So many sane people, who work for Microsoft. Surprising ;) ... probably the pay..;). Just kidding. We boarded the plane, came to Bombay, breezed through customs, got our baggage back, checked it in again, boarded a shuttle to domestic airpot and finally boarded the flight to bangalore.We said our good byes and parted, admiring her courage yet again, for taking the tedious journey.
Once in Bangalore, I decided I needed to be home. A friend helped me book a flight to Chennai waited for another 3 hours and finally reached Chennai. Phew.. That was one helluva experience.. I have no regrets what so ever for taking this journey. The Seattle city made it worthwhile.. Amen..
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Lost it all..
I tell myself "Things would improve. Things would not change for better on its own. It's you, who would have to steer it for better." But off late I my trust in this is eroding and eroding fast. Every decision that I take has been for worse, sometimes hurting people I love.
Why is it that I take goodness in people for granted.
Why is it that I never seem to learn from my mistakes.
Why is that my rotten luck never leaves me.
Why is it that I always end up as the person, who has to be handled appropriately, when I want to help them..
When I strive to help, make situation better, dream big.... everything just gives in. With no one trust, no one to confide.. Life goes on, yet again..
Note: Please don't try to reach/call/message me and embarrass me more . I would like to be left alone for sometime and trust me I shall come back.
Why is it that I take goodness in people for granted.
Why is it that I never seem to learn from my mistakes.
Why is that my rotten luck never leaves me.
Why is it that I always end up as the person, who has to be handled appropriately, when I want to help them..
When I strive to help, make situation better, dream big.... everything just gives in. With no one trust, no one to confide.. Life goes on, yet again..
Note: Please don't try to reach/call/message me and embarrass me more . I would like to be left alone for sometime and trust me I shall come back.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
My trip to US of A (part 2)
Yesterday was pretty interesting.. Well I am still severely jet lagged.. I woke up at 3.30 in the morning again, extremely hungry.. We finally left the hotel at around 11.30. The hotel has free drops to many locations and one of them is Seattle center.
I. Our first stop was Seattle space needle center. The building is 500+ feet high. This is a tall thin structure and on top, is a view deck. Below the view is a revolving restaurant. The elevator takes you up to the deck at a speed of 10miles/hour. The elevator is glass fenced allowing people to see outside as they travel up or down. With every passing second up, the view becomes better. From the deck, the view was magnificent, and one can spot all the important places in Seattle downtown, if not with the naked eye, through binoculars. The temperature was pretty low and there was gusty cold winds, that forced us to retrace our steps back to the elevator. Certainly worth a trip.
II. Second stop was a sci-fi museum and music museum. I am not sci-fi person. If you ignore border line horrible sci-fi movies, the only sci-fi movie that I have seen is Starwars. So a person who is more into sci-fi movies and books would be able to appreciate the place much better. The one thing that interested me here is a video, that talks about how the weird space capsules in movies were made. The molten glass is knead at high temperatures into the interesting shapes, that one sees in movies. What is interesting is:
a. The tools used to cast the glass in different interesting shapes.
b. The final product is extremely small(maximum 1 cubic feet) that are magnified to be shown as huge space shuttle, stars and planets.
The music museum again was something that I could not do justice too. My interest in hip hop, classic or any western music is extremely limited and hence was not able to appreciate the place.
IV. Our next stop was IMAX theater. IMAX theater has been on my list for quite sometime now. There are very few of this kind in India, one of them being Hyderabad. We almost made it to the theater, in a college trip, when a few severely disoriented people wanted to eat hyderabad biriyani, instead of sneaking out of the hotel and catching a show. Sad. I never got over this serious let down. Anyways, the movie that was being shown yesterday was not a 3D picture and hence it is as good as watching an ordinary movie and extremely large screen.
III. The coastline near the Seattle center is interesting. The coastline is riddled with boats some pretty.. some not so pretty. After a couple of minutes here, we headed towards Pike Place market on foot.
IV. The most interesting place in the Pike place market is probably a shop that sells fish. When people buy fish from here, the undressed huge fish certainly weighing a kilo or two is thrown at the customer. The men at the shop and the crowd cheered a woman who bought a fish (dunno wat kind that was). A fish weighing easily two kilos was thrown. She did a decent job catching it mid air and everyone cheered.
Finally we headed back home tired.
I. Our first stop was Seattle space needle center. The building is 500+ feet high. This is a tall thin structure and on top, is a view deck. Below the view is a revolving restaurant. The elevator takes you up to the deck at a speed of 10miles/hour. The elevator is glass fenced allowing people to see outside as they travel up or down. With every passing second up, the view becomes better. From the deck, the view was magnificent, and one can spot all the important places in Seattle downtown, if not with the naked eye, through binoculars. The temperature was pretty low and there was gusty cold winds, that forced us to retrace our steps back to the elevator. Certainly worth a trip.
II. Second stop was a sci-fi museum and music museum. I am not sci-fi person. If you ignore border line horrible sci-fi movies, the only sci-fi movie that I have seen is Starwars. So a person who is more into sci-fi movies and books would be able to appreciate the place much better. The one thing that interested me here is a video, that talks about how the weird space capsules in movies were made. The molten glass is knead at high temperatures into the interesting shapes, that one sees in movies. What is interesting is:
a. The tools used to cast the glass in different interesting shapes.
b. The final product is extremely small(maximum 1 cubic feet) that are magnified to be shown as huge space shuttle, stars and planets.
The music museum again was something that I could not do justice too. My interest in hip hop, classic or any western music is extremely limited and hence was not able to appreciate the place.
IV. Our next stop was IMAX theater. IMAX theater has been on my list for quite sometime now. There are very few of this kind in India, one of them being Hyderabad. We almost made it to the theater, in a college trip, when a few severely disoriented people wanted to eat hyderabad biriyani, instead of sneaking out of the hotel and catching a show. Sad. I never got over this serious let down. Anyways, the movie that was being shown yesterday was not a 3D picture and hence it is as good as watching an ordinary movie and extremely large screen.
III. The coastline near the Seattle center is interesting. The coastline is riddled with boats some pretty.. some not so pretty. After a couple of minutes here, we headed towards Pike Place market on foot.
IV. The most interesting place in the Pike place market is probably a shop that sells fish. When people buy fish from here, the undressed huge fish certainly weighing a kilo or two is thrown at the customer. The men at the shop and the crowd cheered a woman who bought a fish (dunno wat kind that was). A fish weighing easily two kilos was thrown. She did a decent job catching it mid air and everyone cheered.
Finally we headed back home tired.
Friday, February 08, 2008
My trip to US of A (part 1)
I have never traveled outside India all my life and there was no burning desire to do so. I guess I have missed out on quite a lot. I am starting feel that not pursing higher education was not such a great decision (of course sify was a great place and so is Amazon.com bangalore).
So this is how the 15 days trip started.. I had a visa interview last Friday and was expected to travel this Wednesday (6th Feb). Since my passport took sometime to be delivered, my travel plans where confirmed till 5th Feb. With super efficient support from office, we were able to get forex, tickets (had to go through a confusing itenary) and insurance. I also had to buy loads of warm clothing and shoes, as I have never seen temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius( Weird that here people use Fahrenheit , miles, pounds.. I am so bad at converting all these and cannot comprehend without converting).
So this is how the trip started.. I had a flight to Heathrow airport at 7.00 AM for which u need to start at 3.30 AM ( I know insane). So I met my friend who was traveling along with me at around 4.00 AM. He has traveled before to US of A and was very helpful through out the journey( I wouldn't know stuff like online check in, change the food menu on board to asian vegetarian).
The flight was delayed by one hour. We feared that we might miss our connecting flight in Heathrow. So we finally boarded the flight (Boeing huge aircraft). Seeing an onboard entertainment system, were you can actually stream movies I went berserk. I started watching Shawshank Redemption. But then, they had issues with the system and the movie was interrupted. So I ended up watching friends, two and half brothers.. Food was not very bad.. certainly not great..
We managed to reach Heathrow airport in time for the next flight with around an hour or so in hand. Since it was week day, lot of seats were not occupied. I had the aisle seat and there four seats empty next to me.. I just pushed the hand rests up and slept 8 hours straight to be woken to have food. I survived on orange juices in these flights.
So we finally reached Seattle at around 6PM.. drizzling chilly.. Immigration and baggage collection took about 1 hour or so.. Finally we were out and was picked up by my manager. Being my first time here, number of things hit me hard..
1. Freeways, the traffic is so disciplined. I, for the first time, see people sticking to their lanes and being extremely careful when they had to switch.. If you had to park the other side of the road.. you would have to circle the block.. Because the pavement is always on your side parallel parking seemed lot more easier.
2. Huge and deafening freeways.
3, Seattle is a very scenic place. The night line is marked with skys scrappers and lights blinking everywhere.. beautiful lake.. well maintained footpath awesome!!
4. Cold.. If we had not gotten into the car in another 2 minutes I would have froze.
We decided to grab something on the way and then check into the hotel.. We went to this place called Serious Pie and had some really nice pizzas.. and I had white wine for the first time.. I think it had very little alcohol content. I was not even close to getting on a high. Then we checked into this hotel Marriott spring hill. nice comfortable... good net connection..
I always teased my friends who complained about jet lags. I would try to pull their leg calling them show offs.. Well now I realized what they actually meant. I was wide awake, extremely hungry at 2 AM in the morning (silly me .. I should have slept in the first leg of the flight and stayed awake on the second).. I brewed myself coffee.. (I don't like coffee) for the first time and it turned out to be yuck. I probably dint add enough creamer. We had breakfast at the hotel and booked a cab to my office. Holy lord, the cabs are so expensive.. it takes 12 dollars plus tips to travel a distance of say 3 kms (not converting to miles). Despite serious warnings, that I shouldn't multiply every time I spend into Indian currency.. I cant help wondering how expensive it is... We can't even walk as the weather is so chilly and with strong cold winds..
I had neat morning work and lunch. Post lunch I was seriously jet lagged. Around 3.30 PM local time, my body was at 4 AM felt like a night out. My eyes started drooping.. I caught myself sleeping when typing a word... So left office little early... got dropped by my friend's manager. I had decided to splurge all I could, at dinner. We went to this pizza place called Romeos. I cannot believe I am saying this.. but in a couple of days I might get bored with cheese... I also had red wine(marlot something). By the time we left the place, it was around 8.30. I was little shaky because of the drink. I spoke to a close friend here for about 40 minutes and slept like a baby. But wide awake at 3.30.. Could not stand to be in bed by 4.30, typing this blog for the past one hour...
Lets see how the rest of the journey is..
I have not yet clicked a single photo yet.. so no photos to upload..
So this is how the 15 days trip started.. I had a visa interview last Friday and was expected to travel this Wednesday (6th Feb). Since my passport took sometime to be delivered, my travel plans where confirmed till 5th Feb. With super efficient support from office, we were able to get forex, tickets (had to go through a confusing itenary) and insurance. I also had to buy loads of warm clothing and shoes, as I have never seen temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius( Weird that here people use Fahrenheit , miles, pounds.. I am so bad at converting all these and cannot comprehend without converting).
So this is how the trip started.. I had a flight to Heathrow airport at 7.00 AM for which u need to start at 3.30 AM ( I know insane). So I met my friend who was traveling along with me at around 4.00 AM. He has traveled before to US of A and was very helpful through out the journey( I wouldn't know stuff like online check in, change the food menu on board to asian vegetarian).
The flight was delayed by one hour. We feared that we might miss our connecting flight in Heathrow. So we finally boarded the flight (Boeing huge aircraft). Seeing an onboard entertainment system, were you can actually stream movies I went berserk. I started watching Shawshank Redemption. But then, they had issues with the system and the movie was interrupted. So I ended up watching friends, two and half brothers.. Food was not very bad.. certainly not great..
We managed to reach Heathrow airport in time for the next flight with around an hour or so in hand. Since it was week day, lot of seats were not occupied. I had the aisle seat and there four seats empty next to me.. I just pushed the hand rests up and slept 8 hours straight to be woken to have food. I survived on orange juices in these flights.
So we finally reached Seattle at around 6PM.. drizzling chilly.. Immigration and baggage collection took about 1 hour or so.. Finally we were out and was picked up by my manager. Being my first time here, number of things hit me hard..
1. Freeways, the traffic is so disciplined. I, for the first time, see people sticking to their lanes and being extremely careful when they had to switch.. If you had to park the other side of the road.. you would have to circle the block.. Because the pavement is always on your side parallel parking seemed lot more easier.
2. Huge and deafening freeways.
3, Seattle is a very scenic place. The night line is marked with skys scrappers and lights blinking everywhere.. beautiful lake.. well maintained footpath awesome!!
4. Cold.. If we had not gotten into the car in another 2 minutes I would have froze.
We decided to grab something on the way and then check into the hotel.. We went to this place called Serious Pie and had some really nice pizzas.. and I had white wine for the first time.. I think it had very little alcohol content. I was not even close to getting on a high. Then we checked into this hotel Marriott spring hill. nice comfortable... good net connection..
I always teased my friends who complained about jet lags. I would try to pull their leg calling them show offs.. Well now I realized what they actually meant. I was wide awake, extremely hungry at 2 AM in the morning (silly me .. I should have slept in the first leg of the flight and stayed awake on the second).. I brewed myself coffee.. (I don't like coffee) for the first time and it turned out to be yuck. I probably dint add enough creamer. We had breakfast at the hotel and booked a cab to my office. Holy lord, the cabs are so expensive.. it takes 12 dollars plus tips to travel a distance of say 3 kms (not converting to miles). Despite serious warnings, that I shouldn't multiply every time I spend into Indian currency.. I cant help wondering how expensive it is... We can't even walk as the weather is so chilly and with strong cold winds..
I had neat morning work and lunch. Post lunch I was seriously jet lagged. Around 3.30 PM local time, my body was at 4 AM felt like a night out. My eyes started drooping.. I caught myself sleeping when typing a word... So left office little early... got dropped by my friend's manager. I had decided to splurge all I could, at dinner. We went to this pizza place called Romeos. I cannot believe I am saying this.. but in a couple of days I might get bored with cheese... I also had red wine(marlot something). By the time we left the place, it was around 8.30. I was little shaky because of the drink. I spoke to a close friend here for about 40 minutes and slept like a baby. But wide awake at 3.30.. Could not stand to be in bed by 4.30, typing this blog for the past one hour...
Lets see how the rest of the journey is..
I have not yet clicked a single photo yet.. so no photos to upload..
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Jab we met - Exceeds expectation
I have never been a fan of Kareena Kapoor. I thought she was overly dramatic (K3G). She was on top of my worst actresses list. Shahid Kapoor, I never took him as a serious actor. Jab We Met definitely changed all of these. Before sunrise, Serendipity, Sleepless in Seatle kind of movie.
Positive aspects of the movie
1. Punjabi mixed hindi is so sweet to hear. Surprisingly both were able to pull the stint. Not that I am any expert (I can barely follow Punjabi), I was able to appreciate the dialogues.
2. This movie can easily be their best performances in their respective careers.
3. Songs are a definite plus. Wonder why they are not played on cable that often. I have to definitely download some of them to my phone.
4. Shahid dances really well. Kareena can barely live up to it. Especially the closing song sequence.
5. Good comedy.. good dialogue delivery by both.
6. Good screenplay for a not so original story line.
If you have to choose between Om shanti om and Jab We Met, you can definitely pick the second and you would leave the hall without regret.
Positive aspects of the movie
1. Punjabi mixed hindi is so sweet to hear. Surprisingly both were able to pull the stint. Not that I am any expert (I can barely follow Punjabi), I was able to appreciate the dialogues.
2. This movie can easily be their best performances in their respective careers.
3. Songs are a definite plus. Wonder why they are not played on cable that often. I have to definitely download some of them to my phone.
4. Shahid dances really well. Kareena can barely live up to it. Especially the closing song sequence.
5. Good comedy.. good dialogue delivery by both.
6. Good screenplay for a not so original story line.
If you have to choose between Om shanti om and Jab We Met, you can definitely pick the second and you would leave the hall without regret.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Foss.in and some general observations
After much deliberation, I decided to attend foss.in this time. The reason for this deliberation is not the content, but inability to take so many days off. The venue turned out to be pretty close to my office, and there was company to shuttle between office and the venue for certain talks.
Some pluses and minuses, registration was too slow (at some point in the queue, I wondered, whether, I would be playing with my grandchildren, by the time the registration completes). I had just one lunch in the event (excluding tomorrow). But food tasted (much)+ better than what was dished out last time. And the queues were much faster.
Coming to the main event..
Few days back, I had an argument with a friend. His point was, for some reason, Americans are better off making presentations, compared to their European/Far east counter parts (definitely not talking about the quality of content). I had vehemently opposed the view and argued they were baseless.
But now, I think I see his point of view. I think the ability to mix (quality) humour with the content is what sails them through... Whatever..
Rusty Russell, I enjoyed his talk the most. I dint imagine the person who wrote netfilter / iptables to sport such a good humour. His talk made the whole event worthwhile. Going back tomorrow to his talk on talloc.
Wish I could attend au.conf..
Some pluses and minuses, registration was too slow (at some point in the queue, I wondered, whether, I would be playing with my grandchildren, by the time the registration completes). I had just one lunch in the event (excluding tomorrow). But food tasted (much)+ better than what was dished out last time. And the queues were much faster.
Coming to the main event..
Few days back, I had an argument with a friend. His point was, for some reason, Americans are better off making presentations, compared to their European/Far east counter parts (definitely not talking about the quality of content). I had vehemently opposed the view and argued they were baseless.
But now, I think I see his point of view. I think the ability to mix (quality) humour with the content is what sails them through... Whatever..
Rusty Russell, I enjoyed his talk the most. I dint imagine the person who wrote netfilter / iptables to sport such a good humour. His talk made the whole event worthwhile. Going back tomorrow to his talk on talloc.
Wish I could attend au.conf..
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu
I know I am mixing a totally non - technical blog (atleast i intended to keep this non technical), but cant help it...
Few days back I was a hard core Fedora distribution fan. I was not ready to look at any other distribution and took pride in writing spec files for rpm. ( I am not disowning it, I still don't mind working on a fedora/redhat distribution). But for the past few days I am head over heals with Ubuntu. Here is the story..
My first laptop __ever__(Dell Inspiron 6400), bought out my hard earned money. The Dell package is little heavy. I lug the package home at around 8.30PM. Unpacked the laptop, booted into Vista(preinstalled crap..), installed ubuntu in 15 to 20 minutes. It was love at first sight. I wanted to readjust my disk partitions and so reinstalled it couple of times until it was satisfactory. Logged into gnome.. and guess what, it listed all the wireless networks in my area.. I was just taken aback.. This just exceeded my expectations.. And then speakers.. they worked too.. And then package installation .. got around package distribution commands after a few tries(now have to write a package of mine so I understand things better- Ofcourse Debian style).
So what makes it better
1. Good collection of packages
2. Packages working out of the box(So damn neat)
4 months still with Ubuntu and going strong
Installations: Laptop, Office Desktop(Much to the irritation of my manager ;))
Few days back I was a hard core Fedora distribution fan. I was not ready to look at any other distribution and took pride in writing spec files for rpm. ( I am not disowning it, I still don't mind working on a fedora/redhat distribution). But for the past few days I am head over heals with Ubuntu. Here is the story..My first laptop __ever__(Dell Inspiron 6400), bought out my hard earned money. The Dell package is little heavy. I lug the package home at around 8.30PM. Unpacked the laptop, booted into Vista(preinstalled crap..), installed ubuntu in 15 to 20 minutes. It was love at first sight. I wanted to readjust my disk partitions and so reinstalled it couple of times until it was satisfactory. Logged into gnome.. and guess what, it listed all the wireless networks in my area.. I was just taken aback.. This just exceeded my expectations.. And then speakers.. they worked too.. And then package installation .. got around package distribution commands after a few tries(now have to write a package of mine so I understand things better- Ofcourse Debian style).
So what makes it better
1. Good collection of packages
2. Packages working out of the box(So damn neat)
4 months still with Ubuntu and going strong
Installations: Laptop, Office Desktop(Much to the irritation of my manager ;))
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Chang Indian Idol fame..
CourtesyI never used to watch any soap and I really fear tuning Sony or Star Plus during prime time. Living in hostel I have little choice. So I was just digging certain articles in the TV room, when the girls in the room where going ga ga over a guy. A ching(Chinese origin) with eyes hardly visible. I couldn't understand the craze and actually dared to question the hungama..
Well now I am sitting and writing this article after watching a repeat telecast(I have an arrangement, hostel mate would call me when Chang sings). Well yesterday, his performance was AWESOME... "hosh udha dhi" "stole my breadth away".. I was in the same state as the hostess and the Alisha..
This is one of his previous shows on youtube. Leave the first few seconds.
A dentist by profession.. Handsome and fit enough to be a model.. He sang Dil kya kare out of the world performance (The ending ouch...in the hostess words.. "Water" catching our breadth).. left us captivated for ever..
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Narasingapuram street aka Ritchie street
I needed to get a wireless router at the earliest. I knew very few reliable shops in Bangalore and so I decided to come down to Chennai to get one. I usually give the specs of the electronic items, I need to my bro, who would then wade through this __ritchie street__ and get them for me(sometimes a better configuration or price). But this time, my bro was little preoccupied(still not forgiven for the same ;)) and denied the services he rendered. But life is miserable without wireless and I can't get through one more week without one. So the onus of going to this street and getting the router on my own, fell on me.
My mother was apprehensive about me going alone to this street and she decided to come along. We parked our car, on Mount road(trust me finding parking space was difficult - as difficult as pondi bazzar). We parked bang outside Khadi. After enquiring, how to go to this street in a small beedi stall, we took a left.
Picture: courtesy : http://www.chennaibest.com/discoverchennai/citylifestyle/bazaarbuzz/ritchie.asp
We reached around 12.30 and the place was buzzing with activity. Man, we stepped into a small road that was filled with all kinds of gadgets(clock, movie CD, DVDs, CD pouches). Each shop had zillion DVD players on display. My mom, reminiscent of the days of VCR and VCD, apparently I cried for an entire evening for a VCD player which costed about 16000 back then.
Every shop either played Jhoom bhara bhar jhoom or the inevitable Sivaji in very good quality speakers. The ground was littered with movies DVD (X-Men, Blood diamond...). To add to this chaos, pamphlets advertising range of processors, where strewn all over the place.
We were strictly given orders to look for a place called Supreme Computers Private limited. I was really comforted by the fact that my mother accompanied me, because there where not many women around. After little struggle, we actually found this place. A small dilapidated building with an old board, I was not really optimistic. Anywayz went in to just see a total reversal of opinion of this place. It was a small place (15 * 15 room)filled with people. Mostly college students, eager to assemble a computer, had a long list of items that need to be purchased with serious budgetary constraints. The array of items on display was damn impressive. Wireless routers, bluetooth keyboard, sony viao laptops.. I was drooling all over the place.
Dizzied by the items in display, I was considering a lot more items to buy than I intended to. My mother, guessing from the excitement in my eyes, quipped lets buy the router that we came for and leave the place. Left my mom to sit on the couch and moved in the general direction of the counter. I told my specification to a cute looking northie with broken tamil a Linksys router WRT54G. He said I would have to wait for 5 minutes and I was more than willing to do the same. I was standing near the counter watching people take orders at the counter. It was interesting, as the college students asking these people whether this device would fit on this motherboard, or whether there are any other company gadget that would fit this budget. The guys behind the counter where also impressive pulling quotes/specification from air. They would have easily made sale of 75000 bucks in a matter of half an hour. Boy their business model is strong and they have managed to establish their brand value among college students.
My router arrived as promised in 5 minutes. I would not mind standing at the counter, watch people buy gadgets for another hour(this is no way related to the northie guy). Guessing that I was amateur, he asked me whether I would pay by cash or card and I promptly replied card and he went on to explain there will be 2% charges on card. Then it dawned on me, why people pay tens of thousands in cash. I had little choices and I payed by card. (Lesson learnt: take cash when you go to such places). Finally left the place after enquiring about the price of Transcend USB 150GB disk.
Boy I would happily work in this place. You get to play with latest gadgets and help students build their configuration and the end get paid for it... Can life get any better.
Returned home with the loot and exhilarating experience and kulfi at the Bombay sweet house. My day was made.
My mother was apprehensive about me going alone to this street and she decided to come along. We parked our car, on Mount road(trust me finding parking space was difficult - as difficult as pondi bazzar). We parked bang outside Khadi. After enquiring, how to go to this street in a small beedi stall, we took a left.
Picture: courtesy : http://www.chennaibest.com/discoverchennai/citylifestyle/bazaarbuzz/ritchie.aspWe reached around 12.30 and the place was buzzing with activity. Man, we stepped into a small road that was filled with all kinds of gadgets(clock, movie CD, DVDs, CD pouches). Each shop had zillion DVD players on display. My mom, reminiscent of the days of VCR and VCD, apparently I cried for an entire evening for a VCD player which costed about 16000 back then.
Every shop either played Jhoom bhara bhar jhoom or the inevitable Sivaji in very good quality speakers. The ground was littered with movies DVD (X-Men, Blood diamond...). To add to this chaos, pamphlets advertising range of processors, where strewn all over the place.
We were strictly given orders to look for a place called Supreme Computers Private limited. I was really comforted by the fact that my mother accompanied me, because there where not many women around. After little struggle, we actually found this place. A small dilapidated building with an old board, I was not really optimistic. Anywayz went in to just see a total reversal of opinion of this place. It was a small place (15 * 15 room)filled with people. Mostly college students, eager to assemble a computer, had a long list of items that need to be purchased with serious budgetary constraints. The array of items on display was damn impressive. Wireless routers, bluetooth keyboard, sony viao laptops.. I was drooling all over the place.
Dizzied by the items in display, I was considering a lot more items to buy than I intended to. My mother, guessing from the excitement in my eyes, quipped lets buy the router that we came for and leave the place. Left my mom to sit on the couch and moved in the general direction of the counter. I told my specification to a cute looking northie with broken tamil a Linksys router WRT54G. He said I would have to wait for 5 minutes and I was more than willing to do the same. I was standing near the counter watching people take orders at the counter. It was interesting, as the college students asking these people whether this device would fit on this motherboard, or whether there are any other company gadget that would fit this budget. The guys behind the counter where also impressive pulling quotes/specification from air. They would have easily made sale of 75000 bucks in a matter of half an hour. Boy their business model is strong and they have managed to establish their brand value among college students.
My router arrived as promised in 5 minutes. I would not mind standing at the counter, watch people buy gadgets for another hour(this is no way related to the northie guy). Guessing that I was amateur, he asked me whether I would pay by cash or card and I promptly replied card and he went on to explain there will be 2% charges on card. Then it dawned on me, why people pay tens of thousands in cash. I had little choices and I payed by card. (Lesson learnt: take cash when you go to such places). Finally left the place after enquiring about the price of Transcend USB 150GB disk.
Boy I would happily work in this place. You get to play with latest gadgets and help students build their configuration and the end get paid for it... Can life get any better.
Returned home with the loot and exhilarating experience and kulfi at the Bombay sweet house. My day was made.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Bhai.. machan.. Two strong words..
I notice in the last few posts, I have been doing nothing, but, crib. This post hopefully reverses that.
I find that men folk bond very easily. Last week, a colleague and I where assigned a task, where in, we have to interact with this person X and get the job done. So I decided to be smart and walked up to him and tried to discuss it with him. All through the conversation, he was very uncomfortable and mostly negative. I discussed the situation with my colleague and he offered to see what he can do. I wanted to see how he handles the situation and hence was overhearing their conversation across the bay ;) (so much for decency.. don't blame me, I just happened to be around). The way he started the conversation changed the whole scenario.. "Kya bhai.. kuch problem hai kya". Words like bhai (Bro in Hindi), machan(brother-in-law, I guess, in Tamil) are very strong words. Its a male thing that I would never understand I guess. Two strangers, relate to each other immediately by simple words like these. They start acting like long last friends. Unfortunately, no such words are available for use with the other gender.
I find that men folk bond very easily. Last week, a colleague and I where assigned a task, where in, we have to interact with this person X and get the job done. So I decided to be smart and walked up to him and tried to discuss it with him. All through the conversation, he was very uncomfortable and mostly negative. I discussed the situation with my colleague and he offered to see what he can do. I wanted to see how he handles the situation and hence was overhearing their conversation across the bay ;) (so much for decency.. don't blame me, I just happened to be around). The way he started the conversation changed the whole scenario.. "Kya bhai.. kuch problem hai kya". Words like bhai (Bro in Hindi), machan(brother-in-law, I guess, in Tamil) are very strong words. Its a male thing that I would never understand I guess. Two strangers, relate to each other immediately by simple words like these. They start acting like long last friends. Unfortunately, no such words are available for use with the other gender.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Socializing becoming an issue..
Off-late, I find socializing fast becoming an issue. I find that I cannot relate to most of the conversation that happens around me. Many of these discussions put me under a scanner, that I would want to disappear from that face of the earth. Have dinner with bunch of people, with whom you have nothing in common, to discuss, act like you are concentrating on your plate or come with a stupid conversation.
Whoever invented 'work from home' concept should be crowned(though this not an option in my current employment). You don't have to get up, get dressed appropriately, board/drive any mode of transport(biggest pain), then wish meaningless 'Good morning' to loads of people. What a waste of precious time and energy in this era, where there unlimited broadband connection available at residences. If at all communication is required, there is always mails, messengers, conference calls, and lastly go to office only to attend meetings.
But I hail from a `service industry` and I should not even think about such luxuries. Hopefully things change or I change things..
Whoever invented 'work from home' concept should be crowned(though this not an option in my current employment). You don't have to get up, get dressed appropriately, board/drive any mode of transport(biggest pain), then wish meaningless 'Good morning' to loads of people. What a waste of precious time and energy in this era, where there unlimited broadband connection available at residences. If at all communication is required, there is always mails, messengers, conference calls, and lastly go to office only to attend meetings.
But I hail from a `service industry` and I should not even think about such luxuries. Hopefully things change or I change things..
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Managers...
Managers these days, need to sit by the side of team leaders and developers, code along with them(I mean do vi of a file, edit, compile..), to completely understand the state of the project and define the direction of its take off. Managers should not confine themselves to just defect matrix collection or calculation of number of hours spent on the project. Managers need to think beyond excel sheets(nicknamed excel sheet managers ;) ) and just expertise in M$ tools would not get them anywhere.
Most managers would consider themselves successful, if they are able to retain the good programmers on their team. Most of these programmers have poor communication skills(either they are challenged or just not interested to speak). To first identify them, the manager has to work along with them. A person may resolve 'n' bugs but might still not be the best person on the team. But a person would have resolved a single bug over several weeks but that does not make him a bad coder. I did rather solve a serious memory issue over several weeks than correct several spelling mistakes in printf statements..
When things drag and the developer is not able to zero in on the problem, fear creeps in. Problem with most outsourced project is the customer is billed by the hour. So the customer has to be answered on the time spent. The developer fears the worst and that is not going to help him in any way. Sometimes for reasons like these, product companies is better than service industry, you just have to answer your company and not multiple companies.
If you are working for a project manager with all these traits and the job pays well, consider yourself extremely lucky.
Note: The above entry is purely observations made over the past three years and does not refer to anyone in particular. These conclusions are drawn by observing and interacting with several people. Hence the author cannot be nailed on the same ;)
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Go Carting atlast.....
Every team outing would begin with long discussion on the location and the logistics to reach the place. Not everyone would concur on the location(mostly a restaurant) and the number of people is always more than what can be accommodated in the transport available. Once we reach the place, we eat in same set of groups and head home.
But yesterday was totally a different scenario. When someone suggested Go Karting and then food at a place called Beijing Bites(or Bytes ;)) no one disagreed. We squeezed ourselves into the vehicles available and reached the place(oops i forgot the name). Initially I was wondering whether I should jump in and drive or be a mute spectator. In a spur of the moment, I got tickets and I have no regrets in doing that.
But yesterday was totally a different scenario. When someone suggested Go Karting and then food at a place called Beijing Bites(or Bytes ;)) no one disagreed. We squeezed ourselves into the vehicles available and reached the place(oops i forgot the name). Initially I was wondering whether I should jump in and drive or be a mute spectator. In a spur of the moment, I got tickets and I have no regrets in doing that.
We went over the rules, Dos and Donts. We had to sign a paper stating the drive can be dangerous, in spite of all the precautions taken and the owners are not responsible in the event of any mishap. All these only spiced up the event.
We drove in groups of 4 and I headed to drive in the first round. The helper was little apprehensive in handing over his prized possession to me. He went over to say, how I should not press the brakes and the accelerator simultaneously, couple of times. He went down to the extent that he offered to send one of the helpers along. That was all I could take and was ready to retort. Seeing the expression in my face he backed off, saying oh so you now how to drive huh?? But I was stuck not knowing how to start the engine? The helper started the engine and I was all set.
Each of us had 4-5 laps to complete. First few laps, I was driving really slow at say 20KM/hr then went up to 40KM/hr without a single crash into the tyres. Gawd that was great feeling. Initially I dint raise the accelerator fearing the vehicle would topple. It took sometime to realize, despite the size of the vehicle, it was sturdy and wouldn't topple at the speeds that I was driving.
Once on the diaz, we started cheering other groups. Some drove really clumsy and others did a good job. They drove at 60KM/hr and still had control. They started racing and crashing into the tyres or into each other which was awesome. When people suggested second round, I was tempted but I really doubted whether I would have the control. I feared I would go overboard and start driving really crazy. So another round happened and at the end of it, my throat was soar.
We finally left to this place called Beijing bytes. I have never been to a full fledged Chinese restaurant. This was a good place to start. Not knowing what to order, I gave the menu card to someone who had a good taste. I always ordered hakka noodles but something called dragon noodles was even better. After having a sumptuous dinner, caught the bus to Chennai, off on a vacation for three days.
Can the day be any better??
We drove in groups of 4 and I headed to drive in the first round. The helper was little apprehensive in handing over his prized possession to me. He went over to say, how I should not press the brakes and the accelerator simultaneously, couple of times. He went down to the extent that he offered to send one of the helpers along. That was all I could take and was ready to retort. Seeing the expression in my face he backed off, saying oh so you now how to drive huh?? But I was stuck not knowing how to start the engine? The helper started the engine and I was all set.
Each of us had 4-5 laps to complete. First few laps, I was driving really slow at say 20KM/hr then went up to 40KM/hr without a single crash into the tyres. Gawd that was great feeling. Initially I dint raise the accelerator fearing the vehicle would topple. It took sometime to realize, despite the size of the vehicle, it was sturdy and wouldn't topple at the speeds that I was driving.
Once on the diaz, we started cheering other groups. Some drove really clumsy and others did a good job. They drove at 60KM/hr and still had control. They started racing and crashing into the tyres or into each other which was awesome. When people suggested second round, I was tempted but I really doubted whether I would have the control. I feared I would go overboard and start driving really crazy. So another round happened and at the end of it, my throat was soar.
We finally left to this place called Beijing bytes. I have never been to a full fledged Chinese restaurant. This was a good place to start. Not knowing what to order, I gave the menu card to someone who had a good taste. I always ordered hakka noodles but something called dragon noodles was even better. After having a sumptuous dinner, caught the bus to Chennai, off on a vacation for three days.
Can the day be any better??
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Refreshing evening...
An entry after a long time... Last evening was really refreshing. This all started with me having to collect Form-16. I also wanted to visit this friend of mine who had been in the hospital after a really freaky accident. Few friends decided to surprise her by appearing at her foot step without any warning. So much for surprises, none of us knew exactly where her house is. So we had to call her for directions and she tried to act surprised.
We where supposed to entertain her, we ended up entertaining ourselves. We reached her place at around 6 and all that we did was talk talk talk..
I luv the way all guyz fall for the same girl in HR or a fresher..
I luv the way u rank up stupid reasons to interact with her..
I luv the way u guyz rag each other.. when one such interactions materializes..
I luv the way u guyz, rag me(be it driving skills or bajji)
I luv the way u guyz are extremely protective.. of us..
I luv the way u guyz are alway so deegent.. and yet manage to crack vulgar enjoyable jokes..
I luv the way u guyz genuinely try to help..
I am proud to be associated with u..
Thank u for the great time..
We where supposed to entertain her, we ended up entertaining ourselves. We reached her place at around 6 and all that we did was talk talk talk..
I luv the way all guyz fall for the same girl in HR or a fresher..
I luv the way u rank up stupid reasons to interact with her..
I luv the way u guyz rag each other.. when one such interactions materializes..
I luv the way u guyz, rag me(be it driving skills or bajji)
I luv the way u guyz are extremely protective.. of us..
I luv the way u guyz are alway so deegent.. and yet manage to crack vulgar enjoyable jokes..
I luv the way u guyz genuinely try to help..
I am proud to be associated with u..
Thank u for the great time..
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Banglore aka Bengaloroo..
For those who don't know already, I just shifted to Banglore. My office is in the outskirt(Mysore road), far away from the most happening places in the city. Right now I don't care.. all that I care is shortest path to my office. First few days, I had put up in the guest house. An awesome 3 bedroom apartment in a huge posh residential complex(If at all I buy a house few years down the lane, it should be something like this.. beautiful view from the veranda, gym..).
Office atmosphere is just electrifying.. (few hiccups here and there though).. New challenges, new domain, interesting concepts to grasp, INTERESTING PEOPLE to work with ;).. All that I want to do is go to office, work, come home, grab dinner, sleep.. It sounds so mundane.. but right now I am thoroughly enjoying it.. Most of my team members are younger than me. I am very bold and never shy away from asking people from questions. The youngsters where totally taken back by this and the seniors where mute specters. Few hiccups like no linux desktop(This is a big blow.. I am a linux freak and not having access to one is a huge drawback.. i dint know how to change the IP in windows machine..)
I have moved to a paying guest accommodation. A very small room that I would have to share with a room mate.. I have never seen this female as she has gone on site.. Breakfast is decent.. Lunch is good. Dinner is horrible..(Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper)
A shuttle picks me up from my guest house and the drive is around 30 minutes.. Considering the traffic in other parts of the city this is not that bad.. Right now, Radio City's 'Wake up Banglore' and 'Wats Up Banglore' keeps me occupied in the shuttle.. They play decent hindi songs.. though I would definitely like to listen to music from an ipod.. I definitely miss my scooter and car..
I got really scared a few times. One night, I was walking home alone and this rowdish looking guy said something in Kannada that I couldnt understand.. I just freaked out and ran into the guest house.
Office atmosphere is just electrifying.. (few hiccups here and there though).. New challenges, new domain, interesting concepts to grasp, INTERESTING PEOPLE to work with ;).. All that I want to do is go to office, work, come home, grab dinner, sleep.. It sounds so mundane.. but right now I am thoroughly enjoying it.. Most of my team members are younger than me. I am very bold and never shy away from asking people from questions. The youngsters where totally taken back by this and the seniors where mute specters. Few hiccups like no linux desktop(This is a big blow.. I am a linux freak and not having access to one is a huge drawback.. i dint know how to change the IP in windows machine..)
I have moved to a paying guest accommodation. A very small room that I would have to share with a room mate.. I have never seen this female as she has gone on site.. Breakfast is decent.. Lunch is good. Dinner is horrible..(Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper)
A shuttle picks me up from my guest house and the drive is around 30 minutes.. Considering the traffic in other parts of the city this is not that bad.. Right now, Radio City's 'Wake up Banglore' and 'Wats Up Banglore' keeps me occupied in the shuttle.. They play decent hindi songs.. though I would definitely like to listen to music from an ipod.. I definitely miss my scooter and car..
I got really scared a few times. One night, I was walking home alone and this rowdish looking guy said something in Kannada that I couldnt understand.. I just freaked out and ran into the guest house.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
DON ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi..
Well as you can see, the past few day I have been totally vetti. To elevate myself from this state, I gave in to my cousin's pestering.. to view movie "Don" in theatre.
SRK:
I vehemently detest SRK. There where some movies of his (Dar, Bazigar, Dil Se ), I liked.. off late all his movies totally sucked..
K3G - my God with great difficulty got tickets in the first week.. only to see him empty glycerin bottles one after the other..
Kal Ho Naa Ho - He would have to cry and hug who ever is on screen.. with a serious heart condition.. he could jog half way across the city.
Main Hoon Na - Not any better.
Kabi Alvida Na Kehna - Didn't bother seeing it
So Don I din't expect much out of him.. Surprise.. he wasn't all that bad.. Despite his physique I have to accept he din't do all that bad(Probably I was relieved he wasn't crying). The stunts that where supposed to give a hype, failed to make an impression. Ending is what made it worth watching.
Priyanka Chopra:
Though her role was critical in the story line, her performance was hardly noticeable. I am a die hard fan of Uma Thurman (Kill Bill). So after seeing her performance, Priyanka Chopra's martial art moves looked down right funny.
Arjun Rampal:
Well what ever role was sketched he did that role well.. Nothing out of the box though.
Ishaa Koppikar:
Priyanka Chopra at least had a role.. If Ishaa is in the movie, for just glamour, she was not doing justice to that either. Except for wearing really short and low clevage clothes, she did not make a stitch of a difference.
Boman Irani:
His Laga Raho Munna Bhai comedian figure somehow tags. He has a very serious role, but every time he comes on screen, I kinda got reminded of his Munna bhai antics.
Om Puri:
Absolutely wasted in this movie. You don't require Om Puri to do this role.
Farhan Akhtar:
After Lakshya, I had huge expectations out of him. Lakshya, if it was successful it was because of him. This movie was totally disappointing.
Music:
"Khaike Pan Banaraswala" was the only song that was enjoyable. Hadn't been my sister's company(who thought i was chamathu ponnu, which I am), I would have certainly danced for this song. Trust me not a single person went out for 'dum' during this song. Other songs or the background score is not worth mentioning.
Kareena Kapoor:
Just not worth mentioning either.
SRK:
I vehemently detest SRK. There where some movies of his (Dar, Bazigar, Dil Se ), I liked.. off late all his movies totally sucked..
K3G - my God with great difficulty got tickets in the first week.. only to see him empty glycerin bottles one after the other..
Kal Ho Naa Ho - He would have to cry and hug who ever is on screen.. with a serious heart condition.. he could jog half way across the city.
Main Hoon Na - Not any better.
Kabi Alvida Na Kehna - Didn't bother seeing it
So Don I din't expect much out of him.. Surprise.. he wasn't all that bad.. Despite his physique I have to accept he din't do all that bad(Probably I was relieved he wasn't crying). The stunts that where supposed to give a hype, failed to make an impression. Ending is what made it worth watching.
Priyanka Chopra:
Though her role was critical in the story line, her performance was hardly noticeable. I am a die hard fan of Uma Thurman (Kill Bill). So after seeing her performance, Priyanka Chopra's martial art moves looked down right funny.
Arjun Rampal:
Well what ever role was sketched he did that role well.. Nothing out of the box though.
Ishaa Koppikar:
Priyanka Chopra at least had a role.. If Ishaa is in the movie, for just glamour, she was not doing justice to that either. Except for wearing really short and low clevage clothes, she did not make a stitch of a difference.
Boman Irani:
His Laga Raho Munna Bhai comedian figure somehow tags. He has a very serious role, but every time he comes on screen, I kinda got reminded of his Munna bhai antics.
Om Puri:
Absolutely wasted in this movie. You don't require Om Puri to do this role.
Farhan Akhtar:
After Lakshya, I had huge expectations out of him. Lakshya, if it was successful it was because of him. This movie was totally disappointing.
Music:
"Khaike Pan Banaraswala" was the only song that was enjoyable. Hadn't been my sister's company(who thought i was chamathu ponnu, which I am), I would have certainly danced for this song. Trust me not a single person went out for 'dum' during this song. Other songs or the background score is not worth mentioning.
Kareena Kapoor:
Just not worth mentioning either.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Jesse Alias John Stamos
It was around first semester vacation when we had gotten cable connection. I was randomly flipping channels when I landed on Zee English. A 1980ish serial was being played. Back then I dint know the serial was this famous. It was one of the first few episodes where Jessie was moving to the girls bedroom with his Elvis Presley poster and other similar stuff into a room with pink bunny rabbits. His displeasure was sooo enjoyable.. Slowly I got addicted to this serial. I would watch re-telecast 3-4 times a day.. I literally spent the entire vacation on this serial.. (from 8 o clock show in the morning to 11.30 show in the night) much to the irritation of my mom.
It is not just looks that made me crazy.. his style, his sense of humour made him "drool item number one". His grand parents were apparently from Greece. Thats not the only reason he is Greek God. When we went back to college, the entire gang (almost all of them) would discuss him. Some of the dialogue tat were kickass were "Jezuz.." "Bad hair day".. or his obession to his hair or guitor or bike or the way he would skate and sit on the kitchen counter.. were purely entertaining
Not to mention his affection for the kids.. Trying to discipline them, when he has never followed any of them in his life. His insecurities about lack of formal higher education was jus icing in the cake...
All said and done I love full house and John Stamos is demi-god.. One day I would own all episodes on a DVD...
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Relocation
Relocating after 24 years.. is not all that easy..So many unanswered questions..
So many answers I refuse to accept..
So many things to be taken care off..
So many things to be initiated..
So many people I should learn to live without..
So many people who have already forgotten that I existed..
So many things I would like to cling on to..
So many things that are just drifting away..
I have exactly 6 days to handle all these.. Generally when exams get over.. I would have six or seven DVDs.. several movie tickets booked.. But not this time.. As depression sets in, I try to fight it back really hard...
Ironically my Orkut prediction for today
Today's fortune:
Everything will now come your way
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